Indie game facts for kids

An independent video game (or indie game) is a video game created without financial help from a big publisher. These games are often sold online. Many indie games have become very popular, like Minecraft.

What Makes an Indie Game?

There is no exact rule for what makes a game "indie." But these games usually have some common features. They are often made by one person or a small group. These teams are much smaller than those at big game companies. Indie games also usually do not get money from a publisher.

Not having a publisher gives creators a lot of freedom. They can make the game exactly how they want it. No one tells them what they can or cannot do. This allows for very creative and unique games.

Sometimes, indie game makers use websites to get money from fans. This is called crowdfunding. Fans can give small amounts of money to help the game get made. Even with this help, many indie games do not make a lot of profit.

History of Indie Games

Indie games first became popular on personal computers (PCs). They are still very common on PCs today. In the early days, many indie games were shared as "shareware." This meant you could try a part of the game for free. If you liked it, you would pay to get the full game.

As technology got better, people started to expect more from games. Small teams had to work harder to keep up. But indie games saw a huge rise in popularity in the late 2000s. Many new tools and ways to sell games online made it easier for small teams to create and share their work.

Images for kids

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  Nidhogg is an example of an indie game that relies on a retro pixel-based 1980s style for its presentation

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  The ZX Spectrum was popular among most hobbyist programmers and helped to kick off its video game industry in the 1980s.

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  N is a 2004 browser game that later was developed into a commercial indie game, N++ in 2015.

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  Fez was one of several indie games highlighted in Indie Game: The Movie as indie games entered mainstream coverage.

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  And Yet It Moves is an example of a student-developed game expanded to a commercial title following the team's graduation.

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  The Independent Games Festival exposition during the 2013 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California, where indie developers can showcase their games to attendees

See also

In Spanish: Videojuego independiente para niños